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Monday, 8 July 2013

Katie Hopkins V's Big Man

I have held off writing about Katie Hopkins and her rude and insulting attempt at a publicity stunt as I figured it would die a death and she could creep back to the dark and slimey pond that she came from. Then I made the mistake of looking at her twitter feed before going on the school run. Her snobbish hateful remarks are by no means funny and I could even go as far as saying they amount to inciting hatred in others. Why she thinks she has the right to attack people for their class, weight or hair colour is beyond me.

I would be a liar if I told you I have never judged someone on a name. In my past life as a teacher I would joke about kids having a name that made them naughty. But it was a joke. Every pupil in my class would be given the same chance, whatever their name. Having worked in both state and private sectors, I can tell you I would much rather teach a child that works hard with one of Katie's disliked names, than a suitable named arrogant child that seemed to think you should spoon feed them knowledge. I would like to add here that both of these types of children can be found at both types of school.

When it came to choosing my children's names, I went for pretty normal top 10 names. The Twilight series may well have swayed me on liking baby mans name. Katie would probably say I was uneducated. I think the 3 degrees I have say otherwise. So do I care who big man plays with at school? No. I care that people like him and that he has friends that are nice and caring like he is. I don't care about the size of their houses or whether their clothes are from Tesco or Boden. I care that my boy is happy and that is all.

Strangely, big man had his own worries about names when he came home from school today. He likes a boy at school. The problem is his name. Is he worried that the child is of the wrong class for him to associate with? No. He is worried because the boy shares his name. The problem? It is very confusing, especially when the register is being taken. I love big mans worries and I am sure that he will overcome the confusion so their friendship can grow. As for Katie, I'm pretty sure that people will become bored of you soon, so I would start thinking of another way to draw attention to yourself. I do think you should however, remember that no matter what class you are, or think you are, we come into and exit the world in the same way. If you are ever in need, I hope that Tiffany, Tyler or Chardonnay, who are probably obese and ginger, show a bit more compassion to you, than you will ever have shown to them.